A British woman claims she was 'butchered,' lost her right breast and was left fighting for life after undergoing 'botched' cosmetic surgery in Turkey.
Sara Platt, 32, splashed out £14,000 for a tummy tuck, breast implant and three other procedures through a cosmetic surgery agency in Antalya earlier this year. However the mum-of-four claims she was left mutilated by the 13-hour operation which caused her right breast to necrose and 'die' and left a gaping, infected wound in her stomach.
She claims that after the op she was rushed into surgery after brown liquid started to ooze from the wound and she was left awake as surgeons burnt away the infected flesh. She admitted lying to the doctor about giving him a positive review as she feared she would not be allowed to fly home if she didn't.
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After returning to the UK she was rushed to hospital after her wound became infected and has needed eight operations to save her life. She is now fundraising to obtain surgery to correct the damage done to her body and to sue the Turkish surgeon she blames for it.
Sara, from Llanharan, south Wales, says she now can't now look at her own body and has nightmares. She said: "I'm not the person I was. I was very confident and strong and outgoing. Now I'm terrified of everything.
"I can't shower because I can't face looking at my own body. I have these horrible dreams about getting killed in hospitals, drowned in blood.
"I haven't been outside in seven weeks. I get triggered by everything. If I can stop one person from going through what I went through that's all I care about."
Sara says her nightmare began after she was fitted with a gastric sleeve to lose weight after hitting 24 stone in September 2021 from steroid treatment for her endometriosis. However after losing 12 stone she was left with 'intolerable' excess skin which developed boils and blisters from rubbing.
She booked a tummy tuck surgery in Turkey to remove it after doing 17 months of researching different surgeons. However the surgery she booked through the agency in February should have given her a new lease of life but she says has left her with a butchered body.
Sara says errors in the surgery led her to lose her right breast after the tissue turned black and died and 30 per cent of her left breast also had to be removed. She is also left with a "hunch" from excess fat left on her back.
Sara claims the surgeon removed too much of her stomach skin, leaving a gaping wound that needed skin grafts from her legs. Two months later, the hole is still gaping open.
She claims she felt she had to lie to the doctor about giving him a positive review online for fear of him not signing a 'fit to fly' certificate. Arriving back in the UK a month later after a trip which was supposed to take two weeks, Sara was close to death's door having contracted an often treatment-resistant infection which likely came from the Turkish hospital.
She said: "My family have lost me. I could have died. I trusted the medical company and the doctor with this procedure and my life.
"The doctors said the way he cut into my skin was like a jigsaw and didn't allow for blood flow to circulate through the skin. My life is still at risk until the infections are gone and the wounds are closed."
When she arrived at the hospital in Antalya in south Turkey on Feb 20, Sara said she was rushed to sign paperwork in Turkish. The doctor told her he had "sharpened his knife for her" for her extended tummy tuck which would span from hip to hip and up to her chest bone.
Despite her concerns, the doctor said he could do all five 'tuck' procedures at once - a tummy tuck, an arm lift, an back lift, a 360 upper body lift and a breast lift with implants. She woke up from the 13-hour surgery in agony and worried about a lump in the middle of the chest that "looked like a third boob".
Sara said they then put her in a compression suit that was too small and so tight she struggled to breathe. She says she asked to see the doctor for nine days about the pain, suit and lump on her chest.
When he finally agreed to see her, brown liquid had started coming out of her stomach wounds and he told her she needed corrective surgery straight away. They rushed her to a clinic room rather than an operation theatre and was told she would be sedated.
She was awake whilst he cut away at her stomach flesh which had started to die and "necrose". He then used a "burning tool" to cauterise the wound.
Sara said: "I was begging him to stop. It felt like I was on fire. I saw him drop the tool on the floor dip it into something and then carry on using it. He told me to just stay still and I was held down by other staff. I passed out from the pain."
She begged him to send her home after her wounds had become green and pussing. Arriving home, Sara was too ashamed and scared to seek help through the NHS.
She instead went to her GP who knew about her issues with weight. When Sara lifted up her top, her GP gasped.
She was referred to the Morriston Hospital in Swansea for urgent surgery the following morning, but the evening before the stitches in her stomach ripped open. She was found to have been infected with a drug-resistant organism meaning she had to be isolated from the rest of the hospital, unable to see her children for weeks.
She spent another month in hospital and endured eight corrective surgeries to save her life. This involved removing most of her breasts, the implants which were too large and using skin grafts to reconstruct her stomach which had too much skin missing.
Sara said: "I haven't heard from the doctor since I returned to the UK. He shouldn't have done all those surgeries at once on me.
She is now fundraising for her plastic surgery to allow her to move her arms above her shoulders, remove the hunch in her back and reconstruct her breasts which will cost her up to £28,000. She is also raising £5,000 to help establish a legal case against the surgeon.
The registered disabled mum, who suffers from endometriosis, said: "The doctor said my right breast was fine when it was black. I've since stopped one girl online who was going to go for surgery with him.
"If I can stop one person from going through what I went through, that's all I care about. It's changed me completely as a person. I just want to be with my children.
"I understand the backlash I will get online with this story. I just want to sue the doctor and stop him from doing this to anyone else."
After Sara started receiving treatment in the Turkish cosmetic agency said in a message to her: "The doctor said that there is no problem caused by the operation, there is no infection, you did not rest after the operation when you should have rested."
However a document from the hospital, signed and stamped by the doctor, stated the surgery "did not go to plan" and would need to be addressed with further surgery in six months. The document admitted there were "circulation issues" and that "fatty tissue had been left on the stomach and back which needed removing: "Not all excess skin and fat was removed during the surgery...
"The back needs to be redone because there is an accumulation of fatty tissue in the middle of the patient's back causing a humpback."
A spokesman for the agency denied Mrs Platt's claims and insisted it was simply a a third party through which she was put in contact with medical staff. The spokesperson said: "We are saddened to hear that Mrs Platt is holding us responsible for all the issues, but the truth is much different than what she portrays.
"We get all the necessary and legally mandated documents, approvals, and consent forms from her and enlighten her about all the processes prior to performing any procedures. Also, we would like to inform you that we are only the agents in this matter. We are not a hospital or doctor in this matter.
"Our entity only mediates between the health entity and the patient. Therefore, we are a different and independent economic entity than the doctor or the hospital.
"Our services direct patients to the best-qualified health entities. In this matter, all the necessary information regarding Mrs Platt’s operation, including information about the operating doctor, hospital, potential side effects, and cautions she had to take into consideration, is explained to Mrs Platt."
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